Lazy Saturday

Today has been one of the coziest Saturdays we've had in a while. Our little alarm clock (Cate) woke us up at 5:15, but believe it or not, Conrad and I both felt refreshed. We chatted and watched the news while drinking our hot coffee, then our big girls came downstairs to join us and drink chocolate milk. Since we were all up, we decided to get a head start on the day and got ready for the gym.

While working out, a man in his 60's decided to talk to Conrad about a certain male medicine, to which Conrad responded, "Man, I need to stay away from that stuff; I have a hard enough time already. That's why I am 44 years old with a one-year-old." It was hilarious! I got an awesome workout with my good friend Hong (my arms were like jello for the rest of the day), and the girls got to play with some of their friends in the kids' club.

Back home, we had a quick lunch, then hopped in the car to take the girls to ballet class.

By that time Cate was ready for bed, yawning and rubbing her eyes with her little hands. Conrad rocked her in our bedroom while giving her a bottle, and she looked as happy as a little lamb. He put her in her soft crib, where she took a long nap. Conrad and I showered, then got back into our jammies. We've been hanging out all afternoon (after Conrad ripped out the carpet in our bathroom), with lasagna cooking in the oven and sunlight filling our home, making it warm and happy.

I love days like this. :-)

Valentine Week

Bronwen is sitting in our front room right now, playing Heart and Soul. She is such a good girl and we are so proud of her. On Friday she informed us that she would be getting a new reading teacher this week. On Monday, we read a letter from the school informing us that she would be reading with the second graders! She forgot to mention that part. :-D

She is kind to her little sisters. She reads to Ava and helps her with projects. She chases Cate when she crawls up the stairs. She helped me with a speech today.

It is such a priviledge to be her mom.

Goals

One of my friends wrote a post on her blog about her little baby giving her a pat on the back. I thought it was interesting because Cate does the same thing to Conrad and me, but I don't remember Bronwen or Ava doing this. It's almost like she's saying, "Good job!" or "Hi Buddy!" Then I began thinking, it is such an odd thing for a baby to do, and the timing is intriguing.

Right now, we have a lot of changes going on... Conrad got an amazing promotion leading a new group, Continuous Improvement Analytics (very high profile and high impact to the company), and I've been busy getting MichelleDouglasPhotography running. I'm proud to say I'm getting clients! Anyway, both endeavors are scary and challenging.

Thinking about that pat on the back, from a baby; maybe it's God's way of telling us everything is going to be okay and to keep reaching for those goals.

Kings and Queens

This morning we ate scrambled eggs and waffles for breakfast. As usual, Cate dumped about 1/3 of her food onto the floor. While I took Cate out of her highchair and started washing her up, Conrad was on his hands and knees cleaning her disaster. I felt so grateful to him that I said, "Conrad, you're a king!" He looked up at me and said, "No I'm not. A king doesn't clean!" Bahahahaha! I just about died laughing!

Snow Day

Last night Conrad and I fell asleep cuddling, with our blinds open, watching the snow come down outside. It was warm, cozy and perfect. To keep that magical feeling going, I declared a "Douglas Snow Day" and let Bronwen stay home from school (they had a 1.5 hr delay, so I figured, "Why not?"). Bronwen, Ava, Cate and I went to the Children's Museum for the morning, then hit McDonald's on the way home. Cate is napping under soft blankets in her crib, and I'm about to read the girls a story. I can't wait for my baby to home from work. This is the life. :-)

My Baby

Today is my baby's birthday. Today, Cate is 1. I remember, when Bronwen and Ava turned 1, being really happy for them to reach that milestone. I was excited and proud of Conrad and me too because it felt like we were finally moving forward with our lives. Now, I find myself a little sad (I know, it's ridiculous) that Cate is 1, and I wish I could STOP TIME. It's funny when I look back at myself as a parent when I was younger. I wish I could tell myself to enjoy every minute with my babies because in the blink of an eye it's over. I understand too well how fast a year goes by. BUT, I am so incredibly proud of the little girl Cate is becoming. She is amazing!

Her milestones this year:
Crawling everywhere
Pulling herself up on everything
Standing alone -new since yesterday!!!
Saying and waving, "Hi!"
Climbing up the stairs!!!!

She loves to be where ever her sisters are. She loves to cuddle. She loves to look at books. She loves taking the toilet paper off the roll (ack!). She loves to dance with music. She enjoys flinging her food off the tray of her highchair (double ack!).

She is our little baby love, and we love her so much. We are blessed she is part of our family.

Happy birthday my little angel!

Christmas Day 2010

Bronwen and Ava's words, "Santa brought us a lot more presents this year!!" The highlights were: A "very fast" bike for Bronwen (Santa snuck it in her room when we were downstairs opening up presents), The Looping Lightening Roller coaster for Ava, that had literally over 50 steps to put together (ack!), and Cate's very own zhu-zhu pet (I swear, those are the cutest little toys ever!).

Bronwen said, "It has a kickstand, so I never have to lay it [bike] down. Now I can go as fast as Nava [neighborhood friend]."

Ava said, "This is coolest present I ever got!"

Cate thought, "Oh! Where does that pink, noisy critter think it's going?!" She crawls at warp speed to get it!

On Christmas evening we had our wonderful friends and their adorable little boy over. We had an awesome dinner filled with great conversation, laughs and Malibu rum. The kids were so cute at their special table with their Christmas place mats, plates and champagne glasses (sparkling cider -they actually toasted to each other!). There's something to be said about people who just get you. :-)

Anyway, Conrad and I both commented it felt weird that suddenly the holidays were over. I guess we were so used to our December routine of turning on our Christmas lights outside, turning on the tree lights, turning on our three Christmas villages and listening to Christmas music on Sirius in the afternoons and during dinner, that it felt like we were missing something without it.

With that said, I can't wait until next year to do it all again.

Here's to 2011; here's to new beginnings.